Ocean of Froth

Last week, the coastline of North Sydney became an ocean of froth. It all happened suddenly and the whole beach was covered by foam. It stretched for about 30 miles out into the Pacific, in a phenomenon not seen at the beach for more than three decades. The foam was very light and people enjoyed it!

Scientists explain that the foam is created by impurities in the ocean, such as salts, chemicals, dead plants, decomposed fish and excretions from seaweed. All are churned up together by powerful currents which cause the water to form bubbles. These bubbles stick to each other as they are carried below the surface by the current towards the shore.

In this case scientists believe that, storms off the New South Wales Coast and further north off Queensland had created a huge disturbance in the ocean, hitting a stretch of water where there was a particularly high amount of the substances which form into bubbles. Link